Christopher Phillips is an American author

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. He is best known for his 2001 book "Socrates Café

Socrates cafe

Socrates Café are gatherings around the world where people from different backgrounds get together and exchange thoughtful ideas and experiences while embracing the Socratic Method. The groups model their discussions from the book of the same name by Christopher Phillips...

", which as a model and guide has helped form Socrates Café groups around the world. Public Radio International called Phillips the "Johnny Appleseed of Philosophy."

Phillips' latest book "Constitution Café" was published in August 2011.

Early life and education

Phillips read Plato's dialogues when he was 12. After graduating from Menchville High School, he majored in Government

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 with a focus on Political Philosophy

Political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...

 at the College of William & Mary.

Cafés

Phillips freelanced for national magazines before starting philosophical discussions in cafés, coffeehouses, diners, day care centers, nursing homes, assisted-living residence, churches, hospices and prisons. In his most recent book "Constitution Café," Phillips chronicles his journey across America facilitating dialogues, with the model from Socrates Cafés, on the Jeffersonian

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 idea of freedom.

Academic career

Phillips earned his Ph.D in Communications from Edith Cowan University in 2009 and has taught at the graduate program Media, Culture and Communication at New York University.

Books

The books published by Phillips are (the ISBNs refer to paperback editions, where available):

• "Constitution Cafe" (ISBN 978-0-393-06480-3) (2011)
• "Socrates In Love" (ISBN 978-0393330670) (2007)
• "Six Questions of Socrates" (ISBN 978-0393326796) (2004)
• "Socrates Café" (ISBN 978-0393322989) (2001)

Children's book:

• "Ceci Ann's Day of Why" (ISBN 978-1582461717) (2006)
• "The Philosophers' Club" (ISBN 978-1582460390) (2004)

Papers

Phillips wrote, among many others, the following papers:

• ""Coalition"" M/C Journal, Vol. 13, No. 6 (2010)

See also

• Socrates Café
  Socrates cafe
  Socrates Café are gatherings around the world where people from different backgrounds get together and exchange thoughtful ideas and experiences while embracing the Socratic Method. The groups model their discussions from the book of the same name by Christopher Phillips...
  
  
• Socratic dialogue
  Socratic dialogue
  Socratic dialogue is a genre of prose literary works developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC, preserved today in the dialogues of Plato and the Socratic works of Xenophon - either dramatic or narrative - in which characters discuss moral and philosophical problems, illustrating a...
  
  
• Walter Kaufmann
  Walter Kaufmann
  Walter Arnold Kaufmann was a German-American philosopher, translator, and poet. A prolific author, he wrote extensively on a broad range of subjects, such as authenticity and death, moral philosophy and existentialism, theism and atheism, Christianity and Judaism, as well as philosophy and...
  
  
• Matthew Lipman
  Matthew Lipman
  Matthew Lipman is recognized as the founder of Philosophy for Children. His decision to bring philosophy to young people came from his experience as a professor at Columbia University, where he witnessed underdeveloped reasoning skills in his students...
  
  
• Justus Buchler

External links

• ChristopherPhillips.com official website
• ConstitutionCafe.com official website
• Socrates Café official website